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Eurocopter down in Cessnock

#casa is again belittling pilots [Death of Richard Green on 7th November 2015] or those who cannot protect themselves. It is astonishing that this is happening again and supported by untrue allegations. [see letter below]

Ask Dominic James, who cannot get a job as #casa turns up with any prospective employers – #Pelair at Norfolk Is, when he managed to ditch the jet, yet in a Senate inquiry, #casa and #atsb were shown to have not met #icao’s annex 13 standards of investigation.The #atsb were directed to re-open the flawed investigation.

Ask John Quadrio, who was accused of “dangerous flying” on the basis of a 7-page career criminal – #casa never revealed the true source of the informant, who recanted his evidence saying – “…John Quadrio was not the pilot …and I wanted to tell the AAT Board, but they would not let me tell my story…”

Plane Talking claims no credit for the following story, written by Paul Phelan and appearing recently in Aviation Advertiser.

The article is about how the safety regulator’s efforts to frame a celebrated wilderness photographer and helicopter pilot over alleged maintenance offences came undone.
It is being reproduced here because that publication isn’t on the radar of readers locked on the activities of major airlines and their regulation, or lack thereof.

Richard Green, the subject of the story, contacted us because of our earlier quizzical look at issues that critics see with CASA’s pursuit, at long last, of a completely new set of fundamental aviation regulations known as Part 91.

We think that producing a paperback sized package of prescriptive and potentially safety impinging measures to deal with the actions of pilots in an emergency that the FAA handles successfully with three paragraphs raising some pretty important questions about CASA’s approach to the industry from general aviation right up to Qantas and Virgin Australia. We could be wrong of course, but its a discussion that ought to take place.

He has shared with us his most recent letter to the CEO of CASA, John McCormick.

Letter to then CEO of #casa by Richard Green:

Dear Mr McCormick

I refer to our earlier correspondence and our telephone conversation of nearly a year ago. If you recall you made it quite clear that in your opinion I had operated my helicopter dangerously, and that I most certainly should not have the authority to conduct maintenance work on it.

The Senate Estimates Committee has taken some interest in these matters, and for your information I have attached a copy of a recent press article that summarises the outcome of the AAT’s detailed investigation.

After careful consideration Mike Hart [Aviation Industry Complaints Commissioner] had recommended an apology from CASA in relation to the former matter which, I am sure you will remember, you refused to issue. As you will be able to see from the article, perhaps an additional second apology from CASA is now in order.

What is far more important than apologies is the way in which CASA directs its efforts and public resources. CASA’s mandate is essentially to ensure safety for the travelling public. Is it really good allocation of these resources to expend perhaps a half a million dollars of taxpayers’ funds chasing after one private pilot, who flies only about 100 hours a year and almost exclusively in wilderness areas?

I look forward to hearing your views.

Sincerely

Richard Green

I am informed, Mr. McCormick, who is now out of #casa never made the apology and it is obvious by the reports of the past few days that #casa were pursuing Richard Green still.

I would like to pass on my condolences to the Green and Davis families, something #casa seem unable to do.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said three investigators will travel to the rugged crash site on Tuesday to search for clues as to how the helicopter crashed.

Superintendent Craig Jackson, from Central Hunter police, said they expected to retrieve the three bodies on Tuesday and forensically examine the crash site.”The site is accessible but obviously we have to take certain equipment in there to get our job done. It is proving a challenge,” he said.

Filmmaker John Davis also died in the helicopter crash. Photo: Facebook

Mr Green, who sold his UK business in the 1980s and took an early retirement to travel Australia in his “flying campervan”, had his helicopter licence suspended for six months in 2013 .

He had four incidents in one year where he almost collided with other aircraft due to his unnecessary manoeuvres and one incident where he struck power lines 105 metres from the point of take off, causing the power line to tear off part of his helicopter.

He flew a further 200 metres across a gully before landing to inspect his helicopter and then taking off again, despite significant damage to his aircraft, according to the judgment in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The judgement noted a “pattern of non-compliance over some years” by Mr Green.

Mr Green tried to appeal CASA’s decision, saying that it was “made with malice” but he was unsuccessful.

Former independent MP Tony Windsor, who spoke at the Breeza event on Saturday and met all three crash victims, said the trio made a dramatic exit in the eye-catching helicopter, performing a circuit around the crowd before flying off.

Mr Davis, a former Greens candidate for Davidson, interviewed Mr Windsor on Saturday afternoon about political lobbying and mining, possibly for a documentary he was making with Mr and Mrs Green on the environmental damage wrought by coal mines.

“I had a long conversation with John and probably did the last interview John ever did,” said Mr Windsor.

“He wanted to have a yarn on a few things, mostly the influence of paid lobbyists in Canberra, particularly in the mining sector.

“He gave me his card and I’d put it on the beside table.”

He said the three victims were keen environmentalists with a passion for showing the natural beauty of Australian landscapes.

They arrived at Breeza Station on Saturday morning, listened to about three hours worth of talks that afternoon and left around 3.30pm.

“About 800 people came to that event over the weekend, people travelled from near and far and the three of them really represented that body of people,” Mr Windsor said.

“They had come to learn about this magnificent piece of country. They went out of their way to do that so it’s tragic to think [the crash] happened on the back of their concerns for other people.”

It’s believed Mr Davis’ wife, Felicity, filed a missing persons report on Monday morning when the trio had failed to return home to the northern beaches.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said there had been no mayday call or emergency distress beacon signal from the privately-owned helicopter.

Mr Green modified the helicopter into what he called his “flying campervan” for him and his wife to travel around Australia.

Helicopter crash: No survivors as wreckage found in Watagans National Park

November 9, 2015 9:44pm

Neil Keene, Richard Noone and Ian WalkerThe Daily Telegraph

Three dead after helicopter wreckage found

Police and air crash investigators will head to the scene of a helicopter crash that killed millionaire photographer Richard Green, his wife Carolyn, and their friend John Davis in the NSW Hunter Region.

Authorities last night said they had found the shattered wreckage of the couple’s private EC135 helicopter in Watagans National Park near Cessnock in the Hunter Valley.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s Greg Madden says three investigators will travel to the crash site on Tuesday.

Photograph taken of a campsite in the Outback for Richard and Carolyn Green’s book, Remote & Wild: Seeing the Unknown Australia.

Mr Green had become a renowned nature photographer and had published a book of photographs of remote locations.

A weathered outback tree from Richard and Carolyn Green.

Photograph taken of a campsite in the Outback. Picture: Richard Green

“The first goal is really to secure the site and then we gather as much information as possible,”

Mr Madden told ABC Radio.

“Investigators will carefully examine the helicopter wreckage (and) conduct a thorough investigation of the accident site … particularly to see if there are any ground marks or other evidence that may assist us in determining what may have occurred.”

The trio were last seen at the Harvest Festival mine protest in Breeza, south of Tamworth, on Saturday before taking off in the helicopter with Mr Green at the controls about 3pm.

The flight from the rural community to the Greens’ luxury Terrey Hills home in northern Sydney should have taken just two hours.

No mayday calls or emergency beacon signals were detected from their flight and they weren’t reported missing until 6am yesterday when Mr Davis’ wife contacted authorities.

The search was also delayed because Mr Green, who has a history of close calls and run-ins with aviation authorities, failed to file what is known as an SAR time alert — a nominated time of arrival, after which a search is automatically triggered.

An airport or aerodrome would usually report the failure of a helicopter to arrive, but the Greens’ park their aircraft in a private hangar attached to their home.

Breeza Station owner and festival host Andrew Pursehouse said the helicopter arrived at his adjoining Ridge Station shortly before 11am on Saturday and departed shortly after keynote speakers addressed the protest against a proposed Shenhua’s coal mine in the region about 3pm.

A fleet of aircraft yesterday undertook an extensive aerial search covering rugged bush and mountains on their suspected flight path before zeroing in on the crash site last night.

One of 10 helicopters involved found the wreckage in dense vegetation about 7pm.

A paramedic was winched down to confirm it was the missing aircraft.

Mr Green, who described his aircraft as his “pride and joy”, lost his licence for six months in 2013 after a spate of dangerous flying incidents.

How Dick Smith helped with rescue efforts for missing helicopter

AVIATOR Dick Smith took to the skies in his helicopter in the hope of finding his three close friends who perished in yesterday’s helicopter crash tragedy.

The 71-year-old said he first met filmmaker John Davis 50 years ago when both the adventurers aged 21 separately took on climbing sea stack Balls Pyramid — “Australia’s Mount Everest” — in the 1960s.

Separately he went on to befriend Richard and Carolyn through their shared love of helicopters with both men parking their choppers at Terrey Hills since 1980.

John Davis was 21 when he cliimbed Balls Pyramid, the volcanic peak off Lord Howe Island.

“Felicity, John’s wife, rang me and said John’s missing with the Green’s in their helicopter and I said ‘how come John is in the helicopter’ and she said ‘they gave him a lift back’ and that’s when I said ‘we’ll get in the air and look locally’,” Mr Smith said.

“We flew around the valleys in Terrey Hills for half an hour because we were low on fuel then AMSA said they had information that the plane was in the Cessnock area.

“We searched around just in case it had been forced down and they had camping equipment on board, we thought there’s a chance they’ve been forced down, battery’s gone flat and they’re camping so we just flew around.

“We went to their helipad at the request of the search people to check it wasn’t in the hangar.”

Mr Davis was the first person to conquer the imposing Balls Pyramid south of Lord Howe Island in January 1965 after Smith’s unsuccessful attempt just a month earlier in December 1964.

Smith later went back in 1980 and made it to the top.

“So there was always a bit of competition between us because he succeeded and I failed but then I went back and climbed it,” Mr Smith said.

Richard Green and wife Carolyn were giving Davis a lift home to Terrey Hills when their helicopter crashed in the Watagan mountains near Cessnock.

“The very sad thing is I just finished a book on Balls Pyramid, the book is coming out next month and the major person in the book is John Davis.

“For 50 years we’ve been friends and we only had a reunion this year, we had this celebration of his climb in January so it’s a very sad story.

“He had only been working on the proofreading on my book a month ago. It’s too late (it has been printed), it would’ve been in tribute to John Davis.”

When Mr Green moved to Australia he immediately wanted to fly a helicopter to explore the country and he came to Smith for advice.

Dick Smith has just finished a book on Balls Pyramid, which stands proudly off Lord Howe Island.

“When he found I had my helicopter here at Terrey Hills he said ‘is it possible to get approval’ and I said ‘it’s best to get a plot of land so your approach doesn’t annoy anyone’ and he bought a block of land a kilometre from me,” Mr Smith said.

“He just absolutely loved, they loved the outdoors. The three of them were together at that mine site and they were all ultimate greenies and loved the wilderness and even though they were quite separate they all loved the outdoors. It’s so sad they were doing what they loved.”